Belmayne not a ghost estate

Sir, – I refer to Olivia Kelly’s article “Dublin ghost estate of Belmayne redeveloped for social housing” (July 2nd). As a resident of Belmayne I am livid at such a negative and ill-informed portrayal.

Belmayne is an attractive, well-planned development, with a lovely sense of community, an active residents’ association, an amazing youth cluband wonderful community allotments. It is well served by two national schools, children’splaygrounds, excellent public transport links and is easily accessible to the local villages of Malahide and Portmarnock. I feel truly blessed to have wonderfulneighbours, good hard working professional people I know I can rely on.

In particular, I take offence to the comments attributed tothe Clúid spokeswoman Karen Kennedy.While not without its problems, like any new estate, I have never witnessedanything remotely resembling the “highrates of anti-social behaviour, rubbish piled up on the streets” or dereliction which she depicts. And I have been here longer than Clúid has.

I also take issue with your reference to Belmayne as a ghost estate. The development has always had a high level of occupancy, as evidencedby the fact that it never appeared on the Revenue Commissioner’s list of some 2,700 ghost estates.

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My neighbours have strived hard to build a community with asense of identity and pride. Belmayne might have been Ireland after the property crash. Your article makes it sound like Berlin after the war. It was never thus. – Yours, etc, DERMOT REGAN Belmayne, Dublin 13